Divinity:Original Sin’s Alpha Dated! Input needed! Live stream!

We keep on getting the same question – when, when, when ? - and we keep on telling you – soon, very soon, very very soon. Well, no more “soons” from us – we’re ready to put a date on the alpha release, or at least a date range ;)

Next to that, this update also contains a list of recent previews from our hands-on event, a call for input for the higher level backers and an invitation to a new live twitch.tv session, this friday, and yes, just because it's friday the 13th!

Here goes:

When is the Alpha coming?

The date is Tuesday December 17th 2013. The date range is next week. If something goes wrong, it might be December 18th or 19th or who knows, it might even be December 16th, but rest assured that it will be next week, unless of course calamity strikes. The exact hour, well that is still to be decided.

Decision time - Live on Twitch

The decision will be made in a live twitch.tv stream on December 13th starting at 17:00 CET, 16:00 GMT, 8:00 PST, 11:00 EST. David & Swen will be playing the alpha, approve, or disapprove things, and then decide if it's ready or not.

What can I expect?

You can check for yourself in this let’s play video from last Friday in which Swen reviews the state of the alpha. Contains minor spoilers, so consider yourselves warned.

We’ll be releasing a first chunk of the world, good for approximately 10 hours of play, known to the team as The Left Side Of Cyseal. (Which is pronounced by some as "Sigh Seal" while others say "See Zay-All"...)

It’s alpha – that means place holders, rude balancing, some missing features, plenty of bugs etc… But, it’s playable, and you can play quite a lot. But you might also get stuck.

Don't plan on playing this if you want a polished experience! Wait for the real thing instead! Even if you're tempted!

Also, you need to be aware that savegames will not be compatible between different versions of the alpha and at first we will limit gameplay to single player. Multiplayer will open up but at a later date.

That's a lot of disclaimers, but we know from experience that we can repeat over and over that something is not final yet still get mails from angry people yelling at us that they want us to fix their savegame because they don't want to lose their hero. For the record, we won't! :)

But, despite all the disclaimers above, we will be very appreciative if you do in fact play the alpha and give us constructive feedback. That's why we decided to spread it to all of you. The group that has played Divinity:Original so far is very limited and we're very much in need of extra opinions on what we did right & wrong and what we should fix prior to release.

Who can play the alpha?

For the moment, Kickstarter backers only. We might be opening up beta access at a later date for people who preorder, but with 20K backers, we’re sure we’ll know what to do on the short term ;)

How will I get access?

You’ll be able to redeem a Steam key via your Kickstarter account on the Larian Vault. We’ll guide you through the process once again once the alpha is actually live.

Hands-on reports

The following previews appeared this week or last week and are the result of hands-on sessions at Larian Studios in which we let journalists play freely.

Some of you were upset that we let journalists play before backers, but we felt that the game needed to be a bit more advanced before we released the alpha version. The difference between those journalist sessions and the version you'll playing is that there's nobody from Larian present to help you if something goes horribly wrong and believe it or not, even if this is still alpha, we'd like you to have fun and not feel frustrated. Those extra weeks helped us remove some of the most obvious frustrations and even if you won't realize it, you'll be happy that we did :)

Info needed!

You want a forum badge on the Larian.com forums? Write a "Message in the woods"? Do you need to design a henchman? An NPC? Come up with a pet name? Have to name an undead creature? Got to name a statue? A summon? You're gonna be in the credits? Do you need to create an item combination? Do you need to do all of these things because you pledged above a certain amount?

If so, you should head over to the Larian Vault, log in to your Kickstarter account and fill in the necessary info. We're going to start importing all of the data and contacting people where necessary but that process starts with you filling in those data fields.

We will send you reminders, yes we will, so if you don't want to be spammed by us, head over there now! :)

In closing

If you need a beta RPG fix, why not join the Wasteland 2 beta? It's going to be out soon, really soon (as in this week) and we for one are very much looking forward to playing it. We have it on good authority that it's pretty good!

Their late backer store is still open, but we're not sure that'll stay that way so if you don't have a beta key yet, and are into betas, head over there!

Comments

After watching Swen play to see if its ready for alpha, all I can say is that the city of Cyseal seems enormous! If the rest of the game have the same scale, it's going to take forever to play though it all! At least I now know that my money didn't go to waste. :)

Looks extremely good for an alpha ... just hope that this is true for later parts of the game, too (remember Age of Conan ... first 20 levels vs. later on?). I love the detail ... like slipping on the ice, taking damage while running through steam/fire.

@Larian: If I remember correctly, there will be an editor ... will this editor be usable / work / enable us to "trade" adventures, even if we DO NOT choose the Steam version (via Nexus sites, for example)?

LOOKING VERY NICE..love the fact that he's enthusiastic about the same things :D Jeej a potato,jeuj i can do the dishes :) loved it.. has a nice DD feel to it for me (the barter window , the dialogue and char ui -> dialogue window SO MUCH better)..humor is omnipresent but didn't expect anything else..also love they are (re)using the diary tab window, but not seeing any monster codex atm?hopefully still coming

and was that a crafting materials tab i saw :) or just "other"
and oh yeah, will there be a window to fully view your char in all his glory :) with bucket and broom :)
can't wait,you guys rock﻿

Too bad that the alpha will be available only on steam. That means no alpha for me. :( I refuse to install steam on my machine, even if it means I have to keep waiting for the final release. I wish Larian would offer a Steam-free way to access the alpha...

I read the Rock, Paper, Shotgun article, and to be honest, this game sounds even better than expected! I love that the alpha is going to be playable for everyone, because I'm getting too excited for it!

Read the RPS preview, and holy crap this sounds amazing. Really impressed by what you guys have done, and so glad I backed this! If you could add physical character customization later down the line, I'd be over the moon.

Hey, thanks for the update. Really looking forward to playing the alpha. Just wanted to say two things:
1) Steam release is perfect. I have no problems with them.
2) Even though people pester you for release, i completely support your position not to release (any of the versions) until you are happy. Even though I am excited to play, I am more than willing to wait for that experience because I know you will make it better.
Thanks for all your hard work and keeping us informed along the way.

One thing which quickly became obvious from the video was that you should add the ability to transfer items to your party members without having to drag them all the way to the other side. Maybe right clicking on an item in your inventory should pop up a menu that includes things like "Transfer to... ".

Alternatively, there could be a keyboard shortcut to transfer items that you have selected.

Will playing alpha on steam in any way entangle the full release with steam?
Don't like steam at all but I suppose I could endure to help improve the game.
Well unless there are other ways to play it in Jan because sadly I won't have time this year.

Just noticed she got stiletto heels... Bad for walking on anything but hard surfaces. (c; Wider heels, if any, would make more sense -- look at cowboy boots, for instance. Just a small detail, but still. (c: